For Latasha Morrison, Unity Begins with Relationship

The “Be the Bridge” founder on why building cross-cultural friendships should be the Church’s starting line.

August 22, 2017

At a time when American public life feels increasingly fractured and divisive, Christians are uniquely positioned to step into the gaps. Take Latasha Morrison, for instance: A self-described bridge-builder and leadership developer, Morrison founded the non-profit Be the Bridge to help the Church cultivate a “distinctive and transformative response to racial division.” Through actions such as prayer, social media groups, and in-home gatherings, members of the organization take on the hard work of reconciliation by building friendships across cultural divides.

On this week’s episode of The Calling, Morrison joins CT managing editor Richard Clark to talk about her calling as a bridge-builder and why she thinks relationship is the first step toward lasting unity.

On learning how to name injustice: “You think things are fair, even growing up as an African American. You see injustice, but you don’t necessarily know how to name it. It’s not something that’s taught in school, and it’s not something my parents talked about. But with Trayvon Martin, you saw these narratives, and you’re like, ‘this is so unjust’—that was a turning point for me to start leaning into this conversation and educating myself on what was going on around me.”

On remaining teachable: “People don’t know what they don’t know—but what you don’t know cannot be an excuse for not learning. When you tap into relationships and you engage with other people who are not like you culturally, ethnically, who maybe have different theological views, you will develop empathy.”

On mourning together: “We are a collective culture. When something happens, that’s very personal for us…. One of the things in American culture we don’t do well is lament. We try to move on to the very next thing. Sometimes we need you to sit in that grief with us. We want you to sit and lament with us.”

On bridge-building and the road forward: “It’s policy that has done the injustices, so it would have to be policy to unravel the injustices. But you don’t start there. You can’t start the relationship-building with that conversation. There has to be transformation of people’s heart before you can get there.”